Illusia
by Blonde Badger
Summary: *Complete* Jim has just discovered Illusia, A VR fantasy game where you interact with others over the ethernet. In this other world Jim's met someone who might be more than just a friend. Jim/Aisha (Oh C'mon by now you all know who Odana is)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer:I don't own Outlaw Star... If i did i'd make sure that there were more episodes for us all to watch. Anyway Not making money, just having fun, if you sue me all you could take would be an empty pringles can as i don't have anything else  
  
*******  
  
Jim closed the door to his cabin behind him and double checked that it was locked. He didn't want anybody to know about what he was about todo. Pulling open the draw next to his bed he pulled out the orange visor. Jim would ridicule him for this, Susuka would look down on it and Aisha would keep pestering him to let her use it. No this was something which was going to be something he did completely on his own.   
  
It was a new craze which had swept across the universe. The game was called Illusia and it linked people all over the universe in a fantasy based role-playing-game. The purpose was to create a character and via that avatar interact with people and make new friends. The Visor and gloves allowed almost a complete imersion into the fantasy world. On allmost every inhabited planet and station a small outpost had been buillt to link players together.   
  
Jim had picked his set up using his share from a bounty he and Gene had picked up recently and so far he had been enjoying it. For the past few nights he had been venturing into Illusia as a Knight by the name of Hayth. He pulled his gloves onto both hands and sat down onto his bed. Slipping his visor down, jim was greeted by the familiar opening screen with a picture of his character next to it. The Avatar he had chosen had long black hair pulled back into a pony tail which fell down his back. His face was clean shaven with friendly welcoming expression on his face. He wore a suit of plate armour and to his back was strapped a large sword.   
  
After a few secconds the image faded away to show a landscape before him. Jim took a few seconds to get used to the new environment before looking around. It was one of the disadvantages of living on a space craft. The sleeping patterns which people kept were often individual to each space craft and so occasionally the world would be completely deserted.  
  
Jim started stepping down the hill towards the small village which lay at the bottom of the slope. Villages were usually used to resuply but were also a good place to meet people and chat. If there was anyone logged on at the moment then it was here that Jim would find them.   
  
As far as Jim could tell the town was deserted. There were the normal scatterings of NPCs about, going about their preprogrammed lives each looking as blissfully happy as the next. He sat down at a small table and ordered a cup of coffee from the barmaid on one of her trips past the table.Jim sat there, one leg lyeing on the table while the other rested on his knee, watching the town go buy. It never ceased to amaze him how realistic the world seemed.  
  
"Nice isn't it?" Jim span around at the sound of the voice to see who had been speaking. Seated behind him was a woman who he had previously thought to bepart of the scenery. Her long red hair curled down her back and framed her pale face perfectly. Her green eyes looked across at jim with an expression of serenity and the armour showing from beneath her robes hinted that she was probably one of the cleric class.  
  
"Hi." she said "I'm Odana"  
  
****  
  
Please, Please Review, this is my first fanfic and im still treading on uncertain ground here and i will try and make the next chapters longer, Scouts Honour 


	2. Chapter 2

Not mine Just Playing  
  
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Jim looked a little surprised at the girl before him. "Hi, I'm Hayth" he said extending a hand in front of him. The Red-head shook his hand gently and said "Well it is nice to meet you Hayth." she got up and sat at his table opposite him. "I thought i would be the only one logged on tonight until you came here. Have you been playing this long" she said taking a sip from her mug of hot tea.  
  
"Just a few days. I was only able to put away enough recently to buy a headset. How about you?"  
  
"I've been playing for about a month and a half. What d'ya think of it so far?"  
  
"Well it's a lotta fun and so far the people i've met have been real nice, but i haven't had a chance to explore much yet. I'm in the middle of deep space at the moment so when i do get a stray moment to log in the 'lands' are almost always deserted." Jim looked down at his armour covering his left arm and began polishing it absent-mindedly.  
  
"Ok, well i know what we're gonna now then" standing up Odana began dragging him towards the centre of town.  
  
"Where are we going?" he said stumbling along behind her.  
  
"Well" she said turning her head behind her to look at the knight. "You said that you hadn't explored yet, so i'm gonna show you around a bit. Besides between the 2 of us we should be able to take down anything of a normal dificulty."  
  
Jim's mouth hung open for a few seconds before he smiled and nodded. "Well lets go then!" he said as he ran after her.  
  
****  
  
On arriving in the new area the first thing that jim saw was sand. Coincidentally the second, third, forth and fiifth things he noticed were also sand. The sixth thing he noticed was Odana grining watching for his reaction.  
  
"Um where are we?" he said with a puzzled expression on his face. The grin stayed plastered across her face.  
  
"The Forgotton desert. It's a great place for new players to get a bit of experiance with the way combat works and level up their characters. C'mon ill show you to the temple."  
  
"The temple?" The knight said.  
  
"Yeah its the local dungeon. The most worthy monsters all hide down there.....as well as the best treasure" Odana replied her eyes lighting up.  
  
The pair walked across the dessert sands towards the old egyption styled building in the distance. Jim was surprised how well he was getting on with the girl. Most of the people he had met so far had been all nice enough people to talk with but they soon would run out of topics which they could both talk about. The strange thing about Odana was that despite the time they spent talking as they travelled across the sands they never ran out of conversation subjects.  
  
"Well, it looks like we're here." Jim said "Any tips you can give me before we get in there?"  
  
The cleric rested her chin in her right arm and tapped her index finger against her cheek in thought. "hmm tips. don't use your healing potions too quick and always try to take down the biggest monster first. With your class and this dungeon you've got the best chance of taking the larger ones down. Shall we go in?"  
  
Jim grinned back at his Companion He unsheathed the long sword which had been strapped to his back and grasped it in both hands "Let's play"  
  
****   
  
He leaned on the hilt of his sword panting heavily. The last fight had been a tough one and he and Odana had been separated early on in the fight and each swarmed by the half-man half-snake creatures that she had called Naga. His vision was starting to blur when he heard feet run up to him.  
  
"Hayth are you ok?" She asked trying to help him stand.  
  
"I don't know. Everythings all blurry" He said as Odana lowered him to a corner of one of the walls. The cleric cursed and began to pray moving her hands in a pattern he couldn't recognise. After a few seconds he began to feel a bit better and his vision began to clear. After she had finished she helped him to his feet as she herself got up as well.  
  
"For the record when you're poisoned is a good time for a low level character to use their potions" She said, reaching up and ruffling the knight's hair. He swatted her hand away in a friednly gesture.  
  
"C'mon i didn't do that badly."  
  
"Not at all, for a first timer you did very well with that sword."  
  
"Well i've watched my friend a few times and she's a good duelist."  
  
"Well shall we she what your treasure is?" she said gesturing to the final door. They both walked fowards, through the door and towards the gold chest before them. Hesitantly Jim pulled it open and looked at the contents of the box.  
  
"So what did you get?" the girl beside him said leaning against one of the walls of the chamber.  
  
"Well it's this amulet. What's it do?" he said holding it up to the light. Odana let out a low whistle.  
  
"Thats a real treasure you've got there. It'll be damn useful on our future trips. Amulet of Protective Aura. It'll have a similar affect as a light shield only over a larger shield" she said.  
  
"Wow, that's really cool. Um can i ask you a question?" she answered with a simple nod. "Did you say "our" future trips?"  
  
"Yeah i did. Well I enjoyed playing the game with you and i'd like to play with you again in the future, if you'd like that?" She replied a small smile playing on her lips.  
  
"That would be great!" he yelled. "I'd love to play with you in the future." He paused and then realized what he'd just said "Uh what i mean is uh..." The Cleric chuckled and said   
  
"I get what you mean. How about we meet in the village about the same time tomorrow?"   
  
"Ok" he said, a blush spreading over his face. "I'll see you tomorrow then." He was just about to press the invisable button on the palm of his hand when he fealt her sup his chin and plant a small kiss on his cheek. She leaned back and waved goodbye before she disappeared. Jim stood there shell shocked for a few seonds before he to disappeared leaving the temple empty.  
  
***  
  
Jim finished removing the gloves and helmet and began to put them back in the box and hide them. That had certainly been a much more interesting session than all of the others he had played and he was looking forward to tomorrow as if it was his birthday. Lying back on his bed he rested his head on his arms as visions of Odana danced through his mind. Jim drifted off to sleep a smile spread across his face  
  
****  
  
"Jim, Hey Jim wake up" Bang, Bang, Bang. "It's your turn to take watch" Bang, Bang, Bang.  
  
With a groan Jim Hawking pushed himself up from the pillow his face has burried itself in. He fealt like he'd only just fallen asleep and was still exhausted. "Alright already Gene I'm up. Geese if you don't learn to relax you're gonna have a stroke before you're thirty" he yelled through the cabin door. The door slid open to reveal the hastillay dressed 15 year old. Gene looked at him, "I'm 25 Jim."  
  
"Then you had better learn to relax" Jim said as he walked past Gene towards the Cockpit. In the past 3 years since the Leyline, Jim had grown up to be almost as tall as gene maybe a couple of inches shorter than the brash outlaw. As he entered the cock pit he swung himself over the rail into the pilots seat. "Gillam anything interesting happened in the last few hours."   
  
"I'm afraid not Jim. We've been quite quiet for the past few hours." The A.I system said. Jim sat back on his chair. This was another one of the problems with long journeys. There was very lttle to do on the longer trips and cabin fever was something which they had all succumbed to on some occasion. Chief amongst these moments was when Aisha had declared the kitchen her space kingdom and her the high queen. It had taken him an hour of groveling for her to allow him to make himself a sandwitch. Propping his feet up on the dashboard he began to work on his palm top. He had just began to doze off again when a voice sound in his ear  
  
"WAKE UP JIMMY!!!!!" the c'tarl c'tarl screamed. Jerking forward Jim smacked his forehead onto the dash board before leaning back to glare at the smirking ex-abassador. He began rubbing his bruise and said "Geese Aisha, what was that for?"  
  
"You were asleep, Jimmy. On watch duty." she looked smug and continued. "You would never find a proud c'tarl c'tarl asleep on the job like that" James turned a skeptical eye on her. Opening up his palm top he began to start trying to find a file.  
  
"Y'know Aisha, that line might work on Gene or maybe even Suzuka but not me. Not someone who has access to this." with that he opened a file and broadcast it on one of the larger screens in front of them. The first few seconds showed a change over of shifts between Suzuka and Aisha. After a few seconds alone Aisha fell asleep. Jim then began to fast forward the video. After 5 hours of speeded up footage Aisha awoke just in time for Gene to switch places with her. With a click Jim turned the film off and turned to look at the cat-girl. "You were saying"  
  
Aisha was speechless for a few seconds before saying "I won't tell if you don't tell." and extending a hand  
  
Jim grasped the hand and shook it firmly "deal." It was moments like these that Jim enjoyed spending with Aisha, where they could each be themselves and enjoy each others company. Too often in their lives time passed them by far too quickly and they never were able to experiance just the enjoyment of spending time with a friend.  
  
"So what do you want to do now?" Jim asked  
  
"Weell you could show me how well you can get beaten up at Mortal Fighter Gamma7" Aisha said with a grin  
  
"Yeah right" Jim said as he got the cable to link his palmtop to Aisha's Portable Console. "You're going down"  
  
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ok i know most of you will probably have figured out who Ordana is but im still having fun writing this. If you like it let me know  
  
Phantom13 


	3. Chapter 3

Still not mine, :(  
  
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"James I know you can do better than this"   
  
The Blonde hacker pushed himself up with one hand whilst his other held tight his bokken. Jerking his chin upwards he tried to shake his hair out of his eyes as he looked up at the Ex-Assasin. Standing he adopted the standard ready position and grinned sheepishly back. He didn't want Suzuka to know that his thoughts were still tied up with the events of the night before  
  
"Sorry Susuka, i guess i've got other things on my mind."  
  
"Shall we try again" Smiling slightly at her student. She adopted a mirroring stance opposite Jim across the cargobay. It had been an arrangement which they had both kept to for the past 2 years. With most of his time spent on the ship or working on it, and most of the physical exertions undertaken by either Gene, Aisha or Susuka, there had been little opportunity for Jim to actually get any physical exercise in his growing years. On his 13th birthday as a kind of birthday present he had been given, by Sasuka, lessons in swordplay for as long as he wanted them. For an hour, every day, they had been practising and had reached a point where, whilst jim was unable to take Suzuka down, he was able to take your average outlaw or Pirate down.  
  
"Let's go!" with that Jim charged forewards is sword raised behind him. Meeting his charge head on, Suzuka lunged forwards, a smirk adorning her face. As she swung her sword forwards, aiming a swiping blow at his legs, Jim's face broke out into a grin, as he leapt high into the air. Suzuka's eyes darted upwards towards as he began to come back down, his sword aimed towards her. Her initial strike continued upwards in time to block Jim's downwards strike. As the two swords met there was a loud clatter as wood met wood and Jim, forced back by Suzuka's block, stumbled to the floor once more.  
  
"Now that," she said with a smile, "was a much better attempt" She reached down and helped Jim to his feet. As she walked over to a small table in the corner of the cargo bay she said "The one flaw in your attack was your face."  
  
Jim sat opposite her on the floor and looked puzzled. "Huh? What do you mean my face was my flaw?"  
  
Suzuka began pouring the tea into a pair of delicate china cups which rested on the table."Your form was near perfect. However your intentions were telegraphed by the expression change in your face. Up until that moment i thought that you would strike at my sides or attempt a low attack. Once I saw how pleased you were that i had fell for your ploy, i knew that i would need to change my actions." She raised her cup to her lips and took a sip of the hot liquid. "So what were you thinking about earlier which was more important than practice?"  
  
"Erm, well i was just thinking about different weapon styles. How the style you taught me would need to be adapted if i was using a heavier, wider sword." He looked back at his teacher, a little embarrassed. "Just a bit curious, I guess, watched too many medi-evil films recently" he stammered out scratching the back of his head.  
  
If Suzuka picked up on the lie she didn't show it. She merely nodded pleased that her student was applying his mind to his training. "An intreaging question." She took another sip and then placed the cup down on the table before him. "Those style of swords were usually utilized by knights of Europe. Many of them simply used their swords as metal clubs." Suzuka looked Jim in the eye. "However there were a small number who did practice the art of swordsmanship and exeled to new levels with their specific weapons. The "Broad Swords", as they were called, differed from katannas in a number of ways. They were usually solid metal and significantly slower and heavier than their eastern counterparts. However, the Broad sword was designed to Parry the blades of others. Whilst it's attacks were a great deal slower, the damage and armour penetration of it were far greater." She picked up her tea and raised it to her lips once more.  
  
Jim sat there staring back at her enraptured. Finding his voice he asked "So, how do you use one?"  
  
The Ex-Assasin looked up at her prodege with a small smile on her face. "You feel you've mastered the Katana already then do you?  
  
Jim jerked back as if shocked "no-no-no-no-no, its not that, its just i was just curious thats all"  
  
"Don't worry James" Suzuka said raising a hand to her mouth as she uttered a small laugh "I was just 'pulling your leg' as it were. I would be happy to show you the basics of European Power-sword-play." As she finished her sentance Suzuka rose to her feet and approached a small wooden cabinet mounted on the wall opposite the table. Opening it she removed two wooden swords which looked almost identical to the sword which Hayth used in Illusia. Jim got up and walked towards her but stopped when Suzuka tossed one of the wooden blades towards him. He was immediately shocked at how much heavier they were than the normal practice swords. "The weight will aide to simulate the real things."  
  
Standing at her full height she held tight the sword under the hilt with her other hand resting beneath the guiding one, she waited until Jim took up a stance which mimicked her own. "Their are two styles which are usually used with this weapon. The first is using a shield as the sole defensive part and the sword as the total offensive.It is usually the least skilled fighters who use this method. You are already more skilled than they so we shall concentrate on using the second style." As she finished speaking Suzuka began throwing herself into a series of manuveurs backed by her weight. She was almost never remained stationary, constantly rolling into slashs, parrys and the occasional thrust. Straightening she said "As you can see, the trick is to use your weight and strength to power your attacks. It is also to make sure that you are never stationary. We'll work on the basics of attack today and perhaps tomorrow we can workk on your parrying skills."  
  
Jim looked back to her with a smile on his face "That'd be great." With that they began their training anew.  
  
*************  
  
Walking with a slight limp Jim made his way into the galley. Suzuka had explained that due to the completely different weapon that the usual bruses he sustained in training would be larger and slightly more painful than their usual training resulted in. A nasty blow to Jim's thigh had prompted her to call it a day and allow the Hacker to get some rest, a decision which he had agreed with. After filling a glass with water he gingerly sat down onto one of the chairs at the table.   
  
The training had indeed been hard but he fealt that it was worth it and couldn't wait to show some of his new moves off to Odana when they met up later on. Reaching into his jacket pocket he pulled out the palm top and began reading the contents of the disc which had come with the game. He had to admit that one of things he was looking forward to was when they next arrived at a planet, although a part of him worried that the new sector in space would prevent him from meeting up with his new friend. Jim's face creased into a frown at this thought. He continued scanning through the manual reading about how the system was designed to work across the vastness of space and individual distances and planets. So engrossed was he that he did not notice the danger creeping up on him until it was far too late.  
  
Jim jumped up, losing his grip on the palm top and having to hastily grab it before it hit the floor. He had been minding his own business, not making any trouble when a finger proddeed him on each side just below his rib cage, just where he was ticklish. Satisfied that his computer was fine he turned to glare at his assailent. Behind him the platinum blonde cat-girl was having hysterics.  
  
"Aisha!!" Jim yelled at the cat girl.  
  
"Sorry Jimmy, I just couldn't resist it" with that she broke up again into peals of laughter, eventually collapsing to the floor. Jim scowled down at the C'tarlC'tarl writhing at his feet before his face broke out into a broad grin. As quietly as possible he crept next to her and reached out. Ordinarily Jim wouldn't be able to get within 5 feet of Aisha without her knowing that he was there, it really is a testement to how funny Aisha thought she had been, that she didn't notice Jim's presence until he began to tickle her. Her laughter didn't stop but it did become punctuated by Aisha's attempts at stopping Jim's onslaught   
  
"Jimmy, c'mon stop it. Oh, you are so gonna regret this" The Blonde Hacker's own laughter soon joined his victim's as he continued his tickling frenzy. However, his laughter ended suddenly when Aisha manged to grab his hands and pin him to floor.  
  
Looking down at him, Aisha grinned. "I warned you Jim, you are going to regret that." With that the tickle fight began anew. Aisha immediately went for him, but after a few seonds Jim was able to carry on his previous asault on Aisha's rib cage. It wasn't long before they became a rolling ball of arms and legs with a continuous stream of laughter and gigling emerging from it. They were still at it five minutes later when Gene wandered into the room in search of coffee.   
  
"Whats going on exactly?" The two blondes looked up at the outlaw standing in the doorway, then looked back at each other, and back up at the outlaw.   
  
"Uh.."  
  
"We were just...." The pair looked back at each other once more and then chorused "Nothing"  
  
Gene just looked exasperated. "And people tell me 'I' need to mature" with that he walked back out through the door towards the cockpit. Aisha bounced back up to her feet and gave Jim a hand up.  
  
"Gene always spoils everyones fun" she said with a slight pout.Taking a seat at the table she said "So what were you doing when i came in here"  
  
Jim took a seat oposite her and pocketed his palmtop. "Aw nothing, i was just working on a new program."  
  
The cat-girl propped her feet up onto the table "I've told you this before Jim you work 'far' too hard. You should take a leaf outta my book, learn to relax a little" The 15-year-old placed his elbows on the table and rested his chin in his hands.  
  
"If we were planet-side the i would agree theres lots we could do to keep to take my mind off work, but on the ship theres nothing to do."  
  
"Thats rubbish theres plenty to do. Watch films, getting beat by me on the comp-games, have catnaps, train. Theres loads of things to do."  
  
Jim looked up at her, a new light shining in his eyes. "You know aisha, that might be a good idea, i think i will go and have a nap." Getting up Jim started to walk to the door. "I'll see you later, Aisha."  
  
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Thanks everone for the reviews they are all really helpful :) 


	4. Chapter 4

Not Mine, Just playing  
  
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Stepping down from the warp-gate. Jim began to make his way into town. He was still about 2 hours early for his date with Odana but as he had some free time he fealt that he may as well get some practice in early. From the looks of things quite a few people had logged in , the town was bustling with brightly dressed and heavily armoured people.  
  
As he walked through the streets, a few people waved hello or smiled as he moved past, but most just ignored him. Looking about he quickly spotted the portal which Odana had taken him through the previous night, he quickly began to stride towards it. As he approached, a small sub-screen opened up in his visor, showing a variety of destinations. Unsure of what the different pictures represented, he selected one at random. The small set of images disappeared and the portal before him flashed a different shade of blue. Readying himself Jim leapt through. Before the portal returned to its ordinary colour, another figure followed the black-haired knight.  
  
**********  
  
Jim found himself in a copse in the middle of a group of huge trees. Far above him there were a series of walkways linking wooden platforms . All of Jim's attention was focused on the scenery around him, so it wasn't surprising, that he didn't notice the black-clad figure following him.  
  
"Uhf!" As the wind was knocked out from him Jim found himself, back against the tree with a grinning figure rushing towards him, a knife aimed at his head. Using one of the moves that Suzuka had taught him earlier that day, he rolled to the side and sprang to his feet his sword held, pointing at his assailent.  
  
"Who the hell are you?" screamed Jim. The attacker straightened up again and looked Jim in the eye. His purple hair hung low in the front, almost covering his eyes, and was tied into a short ponytail which barely brushed his shoulders. On his chest was a black set of studded leather armour and his legs were covered by a pair off black briches.  
  
"Hmm. This could be more interesting than i thought." As the last word left his lips, he charged towards the knight once more. Jim was staggered by the speed he was being assaulted at. Swinging the sword around in a massice arc he smashed the blades aside, deflecting their course. The swing ended with his sword raised above his head. Gripping the sword with both hands, Jim brought the sword down, where his opponent had been, less than a second before.   
  
"I said WHO ARE YOU?" The stranger bowed low, arms swept aside.   
  
"My name is Biliv. I shall be the one killing you today." Leaping into the air Biliv reached into his shirt pulling out a series of throwing knives, letting them fly whilst still in mid-air. Jim threw himself to the side, trying to dodge the incoming cloud of blades. Not quite fast enough one of the blades impaled itself into his thigh and Jim collapsed to the floor. Pushing himself upwards he held his sword before him in a full defensive manuever.  
  
"Why are you doing this? What the hell's the point?" Jim was breathing heavily by this point  
  
"Why not" Biliv said with a smile. "It's fun, I'm the one of the best at this, so why not show it to everyone else" With that he lunged forwards intent on squewing the injured knight. Jim looked up at the charging man, anger showing in his face. He shifted his stance and ducked under both swipes of the blades before swinging his sword low in a powerful slash, aimed at his opponents mid-section. The sword connected leaving a nasty gash, at the bottom of his assailents ribcage. Rolling away, Jim stood again glaring at his opponent a small smirk playing on the knight's face.  
  
"You might be the best," Jim held the sword pointing towards the floor, gripping it in both hands, "and i may be new at this," he bent his knees, getting ready to run forwards, "But i'm not going to just lie down and die." With that Jim began to charge forwards. On the opposite side of the copse, Biliv began to do the same. Remembering his earlier lesson Jim kept his face set it a permanent scowl as he approached his target. At the last second, the Knight leapt into the air, ignoring the simulated pain of the twin knives slicing across his belly. Jim swung the sword in a powerful horizontal slice aimed at Biliv's neck. Across the visor the words "Critical Hit" flashed in red letters.  
  
As Jim landed he turned to look at the body behind him. The corpse was begining to fade away into nothingness, only an amulet with a blue jem, remained. Jim reached into his stash and removed a vial of blue liquid. Raising the bottle to his lips, he allowed some of the substance to trickle down his throat. After a few seconds he fealt his wounds begin to close. Putting away the vial, he reached down to pick up the amulet and raised it to the light. Dropping it into his pocket, he turned and retraced his steps back to the town portal.  
  
***********  
  
Jim walked back to the cafe where he had met her yesterday and took a seat. There were still a few people dotted about the area, but much less than had been present earlier. He good as collaspsed into the chair in the exact same place as yesterday. After ordering another cup of coffee, Jim sat back and started watching the other players amble around the village, chatting amongst themselves, buying equipment, and trying to convince each other that trading items was a good idea.  
  
His earlier encounter had certainly been a shock to him. He certainly hadn't expected someone to attack him like that. Certainly he'd heard of high level, experienced characters fighting each other for fun in dueling pits on the bigger servers but here? He'd never liked bullies. When he was younger, in the orphonage, before Gene adopted him, Jim had met more than his fair share of bullies. As one of the smarter kids there he was the one most frequently picked on, until one day, a much larger boy tried to push him around just because he could and Jim did the first thing that came to mind...... He kneed the bully in the crotch. Hard. After that, most bullys left him alone. Just thinking about that memory caused, both a smile and a wince to the Knight's face.  
  
"Wong for your thoughts"  
  
Looking up, he saw Odana standing next to him. She had bent over and had moved her head so that it was right in front of the patch of ground, he had been staring at, her face was mere inches from his and was wearing a broad smile.   
  
"Sorry, just reliving past memories" he said smiling back. She took her seat.  
  
"What's brought this on?"  
  
"I met some Jackass, who tried to kill me earlier today, which reminds me." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the amulet he had taken from the body earlier. "This is for you." He handed it over to her.  
  
Taking it off him she raised it to the light and began mumbling slightly, when she finished her eyes widened slightly. "Do you know what this is?" She said gesturing to the amulet.  
  
"No, i just thought that, as i got the one yesterday, you should get this one." Jim was unprepared for her reaction, she squealed and threw her arms around him.  
  
"I've been looking for one of these for ages." Letting the Knight go, she placed the amulet around her neck and for a few seconds there was a white glow about her.  
  
"What is it?" Jim said looking at the aura around her.  
  
"Amulet of Holliness" Odana said with a grin "It increases the power of all Holy spells. Easily one of the best cleric items in the game." She looked over at him. "Where did you get this?"  
  
"You remember that guy I told you about? The one who attacked me?" She nodded and gestured him to continue. "Well after i won, this was what was left afterwards."  
  
Odana looked at him, with a concerned look in her eyes "Are you ok?"  
  
"Yeah i'm fine" absentmindedly he rubbed his mid-section where the blades had cut him earlier. I had to use a potion after it and i only won, because I got a lucky hit in at the end of the fight"  
  
"Who was it you fought?"  
  
"Some Jackass called Baliv. Kept going on about how he was the best and so could do, whatever he wanted" Jim leaned back in his chair and, with a smirk on his face said: "He won't be doing that again for a while."  
  
"Sounds like you've had quite a day allready" she said smiling back. "So what would you like to do now?"  
  
"Um... I don't really know" Jim admitted looking a little embarresed.  
  
"In that case, I do have something that I want to show you." With that she walked with him back towards the portal.  
  
********  
  
As Jim looked around the new landscape he was shocked. It was like nothing he had ever seen before, in or out of Illusia. It was a meadow with flowers as far as the eye could see. The only part without them, was a small path which weaved amongst the plants, leading up to a small thatched cottage. Jim looked back at Odana.   
  
"What is this place?"  
  
"This is my home" with that Odana began to walk up the path to the small building.  
  
Jim swallowed his surprise and began to jogg up to try and catch up with the cleric. As he slowed his pace to meet hers, she turned to him and smiled.   
  
"I was a member of a party a while ago which completed one of the major quests of the game. As a reward, each of us were given a small part of the world to build a permanent base. This," she said gesturing to the house, "was what i chose to make of my part."  
  
As they walked down the path, Jim found Odana working her hand into his. Turning his head to look at her, he saw her smiling up at him.  
  
"So whattaya think?" She said. Jim tightened his grasp on her hand.  
  
"I think, that this is one of the nicest places I've been to in a long, long time, and its not just the scenery, the company is what makes it all the nicer."  
  
With that they walked up to the door and through, to the cottage.  
  
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Thanks to both Breakaway Republic and A.Amishi . The reviews are really helping and giving me loads f new ideas. I've been told that Hack Sign has recently started in the US. I gotta confess that it was the inspiration behind this fic and that Biliv is kind of a rip of Soura from the series itself. Any way, more to come, thanks for reading, 


	5. Chapter 5

I don't know how to break this to you Guys, but i still don't own Outlaw star, sorry if i disillusioned anyone.  
  
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Hayth ducked beneath the Gnoll's large blade and shot a leg out into the beast's gut. Spinning, he used the large blue blade he held in both hands to parry one of the pole-axes which had been aimed at Odana's chest. Continuing the swing he rammed the pummel of the sword into the gnoll's snarling muzzle. Turning to his companion he yelled:  
  
"Odana! Hurry up with the spell, I can't hold these things off forever."  
  
The cleric didn't reply, only continued mumbling in a strange language, her hands pressed together in prayer. Hayth winced as he fealt a spear pierce his left side. Swinging the blade around in a long arc, a string of mist following it, he sliced the head of the monster clean off. He was good, over the past monthes the training, in and out of Illusia, had made him one of the best broad sword users in the game. However, even being the best doesn't make you immortal, and an entire army of monsters were out of even his league. After his last swing the gnolls looked like they were slightly more cautious of him and had backed up. The knight positioned himself in front of the cleric, his sword held before him in the 'ready' position.  
  
With a ferral snarl, the gnolls charged up to him. Hayth grinned, if he was going down, he was going down he'd go down fighting. Ignoring the new stab wounds, he swung the sword around in a low sweep, felling 3 of the nearest in the first blow. Behind him, Odana's eyes slammed open and she shouted:  
  
"Hayth! Hit the floor, now!!"  
  
His instincts kicked in immediately and he threw himself down to the floor, burying his face into the dirt. From Hayth's forehead formed a small ball of light about the size of a tennis ball. It hovered there for a split second before exploding into a 1000 smaller balls, each flying into one of the gnolls. The beasts stood there for a second, an expression of pure horror etched on every one of their faces, suddenly each of them ignited and burned until nothing was left.  
  
Pushing himself up, Hayth started to brush the dirt from his armour. Looking around at the hudreds of piles of ash on the floor he turned to his partner  
  
"Not too much overkill then?" he said with a grin  
  
"Nope, just the right amount"  
  
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In the months since they had met, Hayth and Odana had amassed quite a large amount of fame amongst the worlds. When they first started out there were only a few people who had heard about a knight/cleric team who had started working together to clear out some of the tougher areas.  
  
After a month of them both playing together they had been invited by the administrators to take part in a contest between some of the best players in the game. They were both the lowest leveled characters in the contest but the understanding that each had for the other meant that they worked better than any other team in the competition. As runners-up in the contest, each was given a special item. Hayth now wielded a sword known as 'The Glacier', a sword which could harness the powers of ice. Odana's gift had been a suit of armour which protected her against spellcraft.   
  
It had been three months since the contest and Hayth had raised his level to one similar to Odana's, as well as making the cottage, his base of operations. The pair were known to most people as friendly and helpful, especially to people who were just starting the game.  
  
What was slightly more amusing was the discussions out of the game, on the official forums. Theories were being thrown back and forth about the true identities of the Pair. Some people claimed that they were two of the original programmers, others claimed that they were high level detectives, partners who were involved in a romance which they could only express in Illusia. Both Hayth and Odana found this hilarious. All Odana knew about Hayth was that he lived on a ship which traveled around quite a bit all and all Hayth knew about the Cleric was how she served on a ship as some sort of moral officer. Neither pressed the issue of real life personas and both seemed content with the anonymity which accompanied their friendship.  
  
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Jim pulled his headset off and put it back into the draw where it usually lay. He had successfully kept his hobby a secret from all bar one member of the crew for the past 4 months, and if he had his way it would stay that way. A small grin formed on his face as he remembered the day when Suzuka had sat him down to talk.  
  
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It had been one month into his training with Suzuka when, in one of their training sessions with Jim using the mock broadsword, she had noticed that the hacker was far more proficient with the sword than she had taught him to be.   
  
As she poured them each a cup of tea, she looked across at the hacker and said:  
  
"So Jim, who else has been teaching you to fight?", a small smirk playing on her lips. Jim perked up, a shocked expression on his face.  
  
"Wh-what do you mean Suzuka? You know that you're my only teacher."   
  
"Whilst it would be flattering if I could claim sole credit for the skills you have with that weapon, it would not be truthfull now, would it?" Jim looked down at the table for a few seconds, his brow furrowing in thought. When Jim looked up again it looked like he had decided on something.  
  
"No, it wouldn't" Suzuka nodded her head, her supicions confirmed.  
  
"So would you mind explaining how it is that you are now fighting as if you had been using that blade for a year?"  
  
A red tint, coloured Jim's cheeks. "There's this Game..."  
  
With that Jim began to explain about Illusia, the character of Hayth, about Odana. When he had finished he looked over at Suzuka to try and decide what she was going to say. The ex-assasin had her eyes lowered, peering into the contents of the tea-cup .  
  
"Suzuka?" She looked up at him, her face portraying no emotion. Jim fealt a ball of fear growing within his stomach. What would she do? Would she be angry that he had used his training for? He couldn't be sure, just had to wait to see how she would react. No preparation could prepare him for her reaction.  
  
Raising her hand to her mouth Suzuka began to chuckle softly. Jim's jaw dropped as he stared at his teacher in a mixture of confusion and amazement.   
  
"You're not mad?" Suzuka stopped laughing and looked into Jim's eyes, a smile etched on her face.  
  
"No Jim I'm not mad. Surprised, certainly but not at all angry. It certainly has made you a better fighter"   
  
The blonde sat back, a visably relieved expression on his face.  
  
"Can I ask you a favour though Suzuka?" She tilted her head to the side and gestured for him to contiue.  
  
"Well i was just wondering if we could keep this our secret. I don't want Gene and Aisha to find out about it, they'll just make fun of me for it"  
  
"Very well, i shall do as you requested on one condition" At this Jim perked up. "I want you to show me what you can really do with that sword" The hacker breathed a sigh of relief and pushed himself up off the floor.  
  
"You got it"  
  
After they had been practicing for about ten minutes Suzuka gestured for him to stop for a moment.  
  
"What is it Suzuka?"  
  
"I think i might have an idea which may help you. You said that in the past whenever you wanted to enter Illusia that you just claimed that you were going to get some sleep correct?"  
  
"Yeah that's right, why?"  
  
"Well i think I might have another excuse for you to use." Jim looked intrigued by the concept "What if, in the future you claimed that you had meditation exercises, to work through each day" Jim's face broke out into a broad grin.  
  
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He hadn't spent all his time playing the game and training though. There was someone on the crew who made sure of that. After Suzuka's explanations about Jim's meditiation time, Aisha had decided that the 'Kid' was taking life far too serously.  
  
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Jim made his way back to the cockpit. He had a sandwhich held in one hand and a glass of milk in the other. Placing them on the side of his work station, he swung himself into his chair and tried to start his work before noticing that his computer was missing. In it's place was a small piece of paper, folded over so that Jim couldn't see what was written on it. Inside it read:  
  
'I get used to much and so have gone for a trip  
Where i am there ain't a barbershop but there is a quartet  
If we didn't use them we'd really get stuck.'  
  
Putting the paper down, Jim started trying to work out what the riddle meant. It took him a couple of seconds to deduce what it was getting at. The foursome which helped them to move was obviously the engines, which was Jim found himslef heading next.  
  
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On the floor was another clue as to the where-abouts of his computer  
  
'I waited here but you took to long  
I fancy a snack so thats where you'll find me,  
Where Mel does some of her best work'  
  
This one was quite a bit easier than the earlier one and before the paper even landed on the floor Jim was making his way to the ships galley  
  
**************************************************  
Melfina was standing next to the cooker stirring the contents of a large pot.  
  
"Mel? Have you seen my computer   
  
"Jim? No I haven't seen it today, sorry" Jim took a seat at the table. Looking around he saw another note on the table in front of him  
  
'Boy you really are slow  
I went back to where i feel most at home  
Truly where the worlds biggest "?" plants his "?"'  
  
Jim pocketed the note and tried to puzzle this one out. Well the first part was obvious so he might as well go to the right room first.  
  
"See you later Mel."  
  
"Goodbye Jim."  
  
**************************************************  
"What can i do for you Jim?"  
  
"Nothing right now Gene, I'm just looking for my computer" Satisfied that he had tried Gene returned to the work he was doing at his terminal.   
  
Jim started searching around trying to find his next clue. It wasn't until he was searching around where Aisha usually sitting that a thought entered his head which caused him to grin.  
  
"Gene could you just stand up for a few seconds"  
  
"Um sure why?" Reaching beneath Gene he found the piece of paper he had been looking for on Gene's seat.  
  
"Never mind got it now" Jim said as he headed towards the door.  
  
"Whatever" The red-haired outlaw said as he returned to his console.  
  
Standing in the doorway Jim read the newest clue  
  
'Well you've almost caught me  
You've taken me here loads of times before  
Usually to evaluate the loot we've just got'  
  
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As he aproached the Cargo bay he noticed that the lights had all been turned off and the only source of illumination was coming from his computer screen. Once through the door he spotted the light switch he flicked it and was immediately shocked by the sight which greeted him. Behind the computer, previously hidden by the darkness, stood aisha, a large....... well i supose cake would be the most appropriate word but it didn't look like any of the other cakes Jim had ever seen before. Aisha however looked incredibly pleased with it and it was evident she had baked it herself.  
  
"Aisha, did you take my computer?" The C'tarl C'tarl nodded vigourossly  
  
"Yup"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"'Cos it was fun. You had fun didn't you?" Jim looked down at the cake in her arms.  
  
"Well yeah I gotta admit I did" he said scratching the back of his head"  
  
"Good, now c'mon don't you want to try a piece?" with that she sat down on the floor and began cutting a large piece from it. Jim sat opposite her and weighed up his options in his mind. Deciding that he only truly had one option he shrugged and said.  
  
"Sure that'd be great." As soon as the words left his mouth he found himself with a hunk of cake iin his hands. Jim gingerly lifted the cake to his mouth and took a bite. He chewed it for a few seconds before reaching into his mouth and pulling out a fish bone. Aisha looked up at him, a few crumbs sticking to her lips.   
  
"What do you think?"  
  
"Um... It's interesting Aisha thank you." As Aisha continued to devour the rest of the cake Jim looked around the rest of the bay and found a small empty box which he quickly dropped the rest of the cake into it. When Aisha looked up again a blob of cream had been left on the end of her nose.  
  
"Um, Aisha." Jim tried to gesture to her without actually speaking the words. After about a minute of hand gestures the hacker reached out and wiped away the cream with his index finger, grinning he held the finger between them, showing Aisha the blob.  
  
It wasn't long before she began to giggle, after a couple of seconds Jim began to join in. After a few moments af the mingling laughter, Aisha leaned forward and licked the cream off Jim's finger, if anything this caused them both to laugh even harder.  
  
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Thanks for the reviews and comments guys, this thing is almost writing itself, you can probably expect the next chapter in about 4 days or less. 


	6. Chapter 6

Not Mine, I told you guys that right?  
  
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Odana stood there her mouth hanging slightly open as she watched Hayth go up against the ogre. Leaping across the beast with his sword drawn, Hayth executed a series of slashes against the beast, each perpendicular to the previous strike. After the tenth hit, Hayth pulled his blade back, the point of the sword pointing directly at the monster's chest.   
  
"Diamond Strike!" With that battle cry he plunged his blade deep into the creatures chest killing it near instantly. After pulling the sword from the corpse he turned to grin at the cleric behind him.  
  
"Diamond strike?"  
  
"Well I thought it needed a name. Diamond Strike just seemed right" he said chuckling.  
  
"You're in a good mood today." Odana said, a puzzled look on her face.  
  
"I had a good day. Finally got a job finished that my associates and I have been working on for a couple of weeks now." Hayth sat on the dungeon floor, resting his back against the wall and laying his sword on the floor next to him. "Which means, I'll be able to spend little more time here for a while." Odana sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder, her bronze locks falling down his armour.  
  
"mmm that'll be nice" she said as she closed her eyes, sighing contentadly. Hayth shifted slightly and wrapped his arm around her. After a few minutes where both stayed like that, the Knight began gently rubbing the back of Odana's neck which caused his companion to release a low soft purr. Hayth looked down at her a mixture of puzzlement and mirth. It wasn't long before a snore escaped from her mouth. Hayth didn't move, he just sat there watching her sleep. He stayed like that for the rest of the night, himself soon falling asleep as well.  
  
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After the latest bounty hunting job, Gene had decided that the crew should get some R&R time. Gene and Melfina had both gone to one of the coastal resorts and had left the ship in the hands of Jim, Suzuka and Aisha. Aisha had spent the week dragging Jim around, to some of the nicer places in the city  
  
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It was about 3 days into their vacation that the ex-abassador and the hacker were sitting in a park eating Ice-creams, watching the world go by. Steeling himself he turned to look at his companion who was devouring her icecream in a series of fast small licks.  
  
"Aisha can I ask you a question?" Aisha turned to him and looked at him, a curious expression on her face. "Why are you always doing things like this with me?" Jim's face was focusing on the grass beneath them as he said this. Aisha looked at him thoughtfully for a moment before answering.  
  
"Are you enjoying youself?"   
  
"Well yeah, I'm having a great time."   
  
"Thats the answer to your question then" Aisha raised her face and looked into the sky. "You work too hard Jimmy. You are fifteen years old, you should be going out on dates, hanging out with your friends, being a 'normal' teenager. Instead you have to manage Gene, Fix the ship, work the accounts. You have got to get out more, have some fun." She turned to Jim to see his reaction  
  
"B-but I do have fun. I get to hang out with my friends 24 hours a day and i do enjoy work sometimes," Reaching out he took one of her hands in his. "but, thank you Aisha. I've really enjoyed myself these past few days." Aisha looked incredibly pleased, both with herself and her friend's reaction"  
  
"Good" Pulling him to his feet, Aisha began leading JIm out of the park and towards the town.  
  
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It was one of the nicer places that Jim had been into to eat, it had even required them to go back to the ship to get a change of clothes before entering. The decorum was similar to Fred Lowe's office, a mixture of fine works of art and ancient weaponary adorning the walls. The reservation and meal was a thank you from their previous employer and as Gene and Melfina were away and Suzuka flat out refused, it meant that Jim and Aisha would be the only one's attending. The blonde hacker had changed from his usual clothes to a charcol grey suit, a gift from Fred, and Aisha had changed from her uniform to a strapless green dress.  
  
Needless to say they made a strange sight as they walked into the restaurant and took a seat at the table. They had been seated near one of the far walls out of the way of most of the other customers and so had a little privacy. For the first 20 minutes they absently chatted about the ship and their friends, that is until their food turned up, at which point any conversation Jim started would have been ignored as Aisha had began eating. Jim could only sit there and watch at the speed of which she consumed the massive meal in front of her. Absentmindedly he cut up and ate his own meal as he watched his companion eat.  
  
Finishing her meal, Aisha leaned back into her chair and patted her stomach, a satisfied expression plastered across her face.  
  
"That was a good meal" she said sighing contentadly. Jim couldn't help but laugh at her expression, which prompted Aisha to give him a questioning look. "What's so funny?"  
  
"Sorry its just I've never seen anyone eat like you do."  
  
"Heh, you should visit the C'tarl C'tarl homeworld, back there I'm considered a slow eater"  
  
"Well maybe i'll need to visit there someday."  
  
Before Aisha could reply there was a huge explosion coming from the direction of the doorway. Standing in the entrance were three large mechanised suits.   
  
Each of them had breen sprayed black with a large red demon painted onto their chests. The suits appeared more humanly proportioned than the ones that Jim remembered attacking the XGP long ago, but they appeared a lot more heavily armoured. On their left side was a large minigun-like device with barels about an inch and a half in diameter. Their right arm ended in a large metal fist which had been painted red on each of the machines. From a speaker on the lead mecha's head a voice said:  
  
"Allright everyone, no-one does anything stupid, no-one get's hurt. Everyone bring their jewlery and valubles and put them into this bag. He tossed a large sack infront of him. Pointing to one of the frightened waiters "You go and get all the cash from the register and bring it here NOW!"  
  
Aisha looked across at Jim a broad grin on her face. "Could this night get any better?!" Without waiting for an answer she leapt up across at the nearest enemy, smashing her fist through the screen mounted on the mecha's head. Satisfied that her first opponent was down, Aisha leapt over to the next suit.  
  
Jim smacked his head in frustration and began to scan the walls. His eyes lit up as he found a broadsword mounted above a table quite close to him. Sprinting over to it Jim reached up over the shocked couple eating there and pulled down the blade. Hefting it for a few seconds to get used to the weight, Jim grinned and charged the remaining suit not in combat with Aisha. The pilot was more than a little surprised when he saw a blonde fifteen teenager charging into combat with him. That said, Aisha was as well.  
  
"Jim what the hell do you think you're doing?" she screamed at him, still paying most of her attention to her opponent.  
  
"Well i can't let you have all the fun, now can I?" Aisha was impressed with Jim's skills. She knew that he had been spending quite a bit of time training with Suzuka but she didn't know that he was that good. Something was troubling her though, there was something very familiar about Jim's fighting style, something that she couldn't put her finger on. Putting her mind back to the task in hand she continued trying to beat through the armour of the exo-suit that she was currently fighting.  
  
Jim had left a couple of deep gashs, exposing the microcircitry, in his previous swings when an idea entered his head. Grinning he leapt into the air and executed a series of slashes, each perpendicular to the last. When he started falling back to the ground he landed sword first stabbing through the thick armour and killing the pilot within, letting out the battle cry of "Diamond Strike!"  
  
Aisha's blood ran cold, as all her attention was focused on Jim. It wasn't possible, she couldn't believe it, he couldn't be...... This was as far as the platinum blonde got before the remaining suit used her distraction to his advantage and shot a rocket at Aisha at point blank range throwing her across the restaurant into the wall behind her.  
  
Jim hadn't seen her reaction but he had seen Aisha get shot. With a cry of rage the hacker leaped forward the sword held behind his head. In the midst of a full blown rage, he brought the sword down, splitting the suit and its occupant completly in two. Dropping the blade as soon as he had finished, he rushed over to Aisha and cradled her still form in his arms.  
  
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duh duh duuuuuuuuh! First Cliffhanger Ever. Hope everyone likes this coz i sure as hell enjoyed writing it. Special thanks to Breakaway Republic, without who this and the previous chapter would have really sucked. 


	7. Chapter 7

Not Mine, Honest. Shame though.  
  
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Jim had remained holding Aisha, gently rocking her until the authorities arrived. None of the other patrons had come any closer than 10 feet, but it was soon evident that one of them had made a call to the emergency services. As the police ran through the door the crowd parted to allow them access to the pair on the floor. The police ran up to Aisha and Jim and pointed their guns at them.   
  
"Put your hands up now, Scumbag!" Jim turned and shot the cop a look of such intense pain and anger, that the man took a step back.  
  
"Um officer, it was these guys who saved us," the manager of the restaurant said, "they were the ones who had tried to rob us." He pointed in the direction of the corpses. It was then that the ambulance crew arrived. They eventually managed to get Jim to let go of her, and get the C'tarl C'tarl into the van but not without allowing Jim to ride along next to her.  
  
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Upon reaching the hospital, Aisha was immediately rushed to the emergency room, Jim was grabbed by one of the orderlies and given a bunch of forms to fill out. At first Jim had refused but once it was pointed out that they would be unable to carry out treatment until he agreed to fill them in. Most of them were relatively basic information. Species, Blood Type, Age, Gender, Allegies etc, but it was when Jim reached that he first saw a problem. He needed to be able to pay the hospital bills but the amount of cash he had access to at that point in time was no where near enough to pay the fee. That left only one place left to try. Walking over to the Vid-phone Jim dialed a familiar number.  
  
The face on the screen showed an expression of curiousity before it broke out into a broad grin of recognition.  
  
"AH JIM! How are today? You look so handsome in that suit, I knew that you would."  
  
"Hello Fred" Jim said with a tone of resignation in his voice, which Fred completely missed.  
  
"What can i do for you today?"  
  
"I need to borrow some money Fred, someone's been hurt and i need some cash to pay the medical bills" A look of horror flashed over the billionaire's face.  
  
"It's not Gene is it?"   
  
Jim, sighed. "No Fred it's not Gene, its Aisha. Please we really do need this money" Fred looked thoughtful for a few seconds, as if there was a new development he had just been made aware of.  
"Ok Jim, I'll lend you it this time. I'm sending you details of an account you can use." Jim's face broke out into a smile "give Aisha my best Jim...." with that Fred hung up, a small smile on his face..  
  
Picking the forms up, Jim began to fill in the final pages with the information Fred had given him. Gathering the papers the hacker walked up to the reception area and handed them over to the girl working there. He stood at the counter waiting for her to finish putting the data into the hospital's records.  
  
"Excuse me? Are you the one who came in with the Female C'tarl C'tarl?" Jim turned to the man.  
  
"Is she ok? What has happened to her?"  
  
"I think that you should follow me." Jim fealt a pit forming in the middle of his stomach. Steeling himself he followed the docter into the room but he wasn't prepared for the sight that met him.  
  
The room was your basic hospital private room, a bed, chair next to it, monitoring equipment. He'd seen rooms like it plenty of times, when Gene would get injured, but what he saw before him was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Aisha was lying on the bed, a resperator fastened to her face. Someone had removed the tattered remains of the dress she had been wearing earlier and a hospial gown had been put in place. An IV tube had been stuck in her arm and a moniter to the left of her was monitering her heart beat. Across her forehead had been wrapped a piece of white gauze as a bandage. Jim felt his heart catch in his throat at the sight of her. The doctor began explaining what had happened to her.  
  
"She is suffereing from S.I.S, Secondary Impact Syndrome. It occurs when one is affected by another concussion while still under the effects of a previous head injury."  
  
"She hit the wall..."  
  
"Sorry?"   
  
"After the missile hit her, she was thrown into the wall at the other side of the restaurant." Jim's voice sounded like it was going to break into sobs at any moment.   
  
The docter nodded "That would likely be the cause of it. It often causes the victim to fall into a coma."   
  
"How long will she be like this?"  
  
"It's not a fixed time, it could be a couple of days, weeks, sometimes even years." The docter watched for Jim's reaction. Seeing that none was coming he said: "I'll leave you alone" and walked out of the door, shutting it behind him.  
  
Jim staggered over to the bed and burried his face into the sheets.   
  
"Oh Aisha...." he said, as the tears began to flow freely.  
  
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When he awoke the next morning he found that it wasn't him and Aisha alone in the room anymore. In another chair on the other side of the bed was Suzuka, meditating.  
  
"Suzuka? What are you doing here?"  
  
"The hospital contacted the ship this morning, I thought it would be best if I came down here as soon as possible" Jim nodded in acceptance, he then turned to look back at the comatose girl next to him.  
  
"I am sure that she will soon awake Jim."  
  
"Yeah...."  
  
"We have seen her take worse hits before."  
  
"Yeah...." Suzuka sighed. It seemed that any further attempts to cheer up the boy would be futile. Attempting to start a new line of conversation the ex-assasin said:  
  
"I've sent a message to the hotels in the area Gene went to, they promised to pass the message on when they next see him"  
  
"Thanks..." Jim's eyes had still not left Aisha's face. Suzuka stood up and made her exit from the door.  
  
******************************************************************  
  
Suzuka was extremely troubled by the boy's reaction. She had seen Jim go through enough to make grown men crumble and still stay strong but this, this looked like it may break him.  
  
"Miss....." The docter checked his chart "Suzuka. I assume you are here to pick Mr Hawking up?"  
  
"No. I think that Jim would rather stay here, if it is all the same thank you."  
  
"I asure you that would be completely impossible. Company policy strictly prohibits that"  
  
A small smile crossed her lips. "I think it would be in your own personal interests if you allowed him too stay, if you catch my drift"  
  
"Are you threatening me madam?" The docter said pulling himself up to his full height.  
  
"Not at all. However i do think that my student would be most annoyed if you tried to remove him from that room. Incidentally did you happen to see those three mecha pirates who attacked the restaurant?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Pitty, I was hoping to see the results of how he handled himself." With that the Raven haired woman walked towards the entrance of the building leaving the docter gawping in her wake.  
  
***************************************************************  
  
Jim sat there, Aisha's right hand held in his left, raising his other he brushed a few stray strands away from her face. Since the docter had come in and given him his permission to stay there with her earlier in the day, most of the hospital staff had been really friendly and sympathetic to the blonde hacker.  
  
"C'mon Aisha. You can get through this, I know you can." In a much smaller voice he said "I need you to. If it wasn't for you i would have probably gone crazy years ago. Do you remember back on the grave of the dragon just before the Mcdougals attacked? I was gettin a feeling a bit angry that Gene was acting like an ass and had stormed off on my own. You came after me to try an' cheer me up. That was the first time you told me i needed to lay off the constant worrying. You're always lookin out for me, I just can't work out why you care so much, about someone like me." As these words left his mouth Jim fell asleep, his head soon hitting the pillow next to her.  
  
******************************************************************  
  
"Hey kid." Turning to the doorway Jim saw Gene standing there wearing what looked like a suit  
  
"Gene" Jim simply said before restarting his vigil. The redhead strode over and took a seat next to Jim.  
  
"How're you doin' Jim?"  
  
"I'm ok Gene, its Aisha I'm more worried about?" Gene adopted a more relaxed posture and leaned back into the chair.  
  
"Y'know, I'm not"  
  
"What?" A touch of anger had krept into Jim's voice and his eyes narrowed.  
  
"Now don't get the wrong idea," Gene said making a 'calm down' gesture with his hands. " I care about Aisha as much as the next guy, all I'm saying is that Aisha is the strongest woman in the galaxy, and that's official. You think she's going to let something as little as a concussion keep her away from us? Nah Aisha's stronger than that, she'll be back, you know she will." It seemed like Gene's speech had cheered Jim up no-end and it actually seemed like he was smiling for the first time in a few days.  
  
"Listen Jim, I've got a bit of buisness to take care of and I'll be gone for a couple of days." He handed Jim a bag that he'd brought in with him "Suzuka packed these for you, it's just a few changes of clothes and stuff." The outlaw stood and walked to the door. "I'll see you in a few days ok?"  
  
"Yeah Gene. Thanks" Jim said with a smile.  
  
"No problem kid" With that Gene shut the door and began walking down the corridor. "I might care about Aisha as much as the next guy but you, you care about her a hell of a lot more" he mused.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
It had been two weeks since the accident and there had still been no change in Aisha's condition. After Jim had stayed there for a week, barely leaving the room, the docters relented and brought a cot into the room for him to use, even so it was rare for Jim not to fall asleep in the chair next to Aisha.  
  
The others had been round several times over the past weeks stopping by and sitting with the pair for a few hours at a time. On a table on the far wall were a series of gifts. An outrageous bouquet of flowers had been a gift from Fred and next was a large cake which had been baked by Melfina. Inbetween the two was a card. On the inside it said:  
  
"Dear Aisha  
  
Get well soon   
  
Gene, Melfina and Suzu."  
  
Jim's head swung around as heard the door open. Standing in the doorway was Suzuka holding a black carry-all.  
  
"Has there been any change today Jim?"  
  
"No not yet Suzuka" Moving silently Suzuka walked over to the other chair in the room.  
  
"I have something for you." Reaching into the bad she pulled out Jim's visor and simu-gloves and placed them in Jim's lap.   
  
"Suzuka-"  
  
"Before you interupt Jim, I want you to listen to me. You need to take some time off, you're worrying yourself to death and that isn't helping you or Aisha" Jim looked down at the floor.  
  
"But-"  
  
"I completely am serious Jim, I'm not leaving here until i see you put this on. I know you care about Aisha but she wouldn't want you to pull yourself apart over this would she?"  
  
"No....."  
  
"Besides don't you think that.....What was her name again? Your friend?"  
  
"Odana"  
  
"Don't you think that Odana will be worried about where you have been for the past few weeks?"  
  
"Yeah you're right. Thanks Suzuka." Suzuka smiled at her student. "I shall leave you then." As Suzuka walked through the door, Jim began suiting up. Taking one last at the girl beside him, Jim snapped the visor down and prepared to enter Illusia once again.  
  
***************************************************************  
  
Hayth pushed open the door of the cottage and scanned around the interior  
  
"Odana! You in here?" The Knight yelled. Receiving no answer he began to search for her. There was no sign of her inside the structure or outside in the fields next to it. Wearing a puzzled expression Hayth began walking up to the portal which would take him to the main area of the game.  
  
***********************************************************  
  
"Albion!" Hayth walked up to the blue and silver clad man who was standing in the town square.  
  
"Hayth, long time no see, how've you been?"  
  
"Not that good. I've had a real world 'mergency so haven't been on in a while. I'm trying to find Odana, have you seen her around?"  
  
"Odana? I thought she was with you?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Yeah, the last time i saw her was when you both came to me asking about the hall of the ogre king."  
  
"So she's not been to seen you at all?"  
  
"No, sorry man"  
  
"Alright, thanks anyway Albion"  
  
***********************************************************  
  
Hayth thrust his blade into the demon's corpse and raised a hand to wipe his brow, ignoring the stares of the other players who were looking at him as if they'd seen a ghost. He'd checked with all of the people that both he and Odana knew and none of them had seen any sign of her in the past two weeks and there were no messages which had been left for him. Hayth wasn't sure what to make of this whether she was busy or had decided to stop playing the game completely.   
  
Not sure of what to do he had decided to work out his frustrations on some of the biggest things he could find. In the past two hours he had cleared out about five dungeons, ignoring any and all other players who had tried to talk to him. Anyone who say him fight was shocked at the vicousness and savagry with which the previous friend ly and helpful knight attacked his enemies.  
  
By the end of the night, one of the most talked about topics being chatted about was the change in Hayth's attitude and what had caused such a massive conversion.  
  
*************************************************************  
  
With a sigh, Jim pulled the visor off ant threw it into the bag Suzuka had brought with her earlier.  
  
"I don't get it Aisha, why is everything going wrong. First this happens to you and now it feels like Odana has quit without even saying goodbye" He tossed the gloves into the bag on top of the visor. He turned to look at her, his eye's narrowing in saddness. "I miss you Aisha. I need you to wake up....Please" with that Jim's eyes slowly closed as he fell asleep, his head resting next to Aisha.  
  
************************************************************  
  
Jim awoke to the feeling of someone stroking his hair. Looking up he saw a pair of Aqua coloured yes gazing down into his.  
  
"Hey....." Aisha said.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
I'm so gonna get a kicking for this. Hope everyone enjoyed this, and thanks to all the people who reviewed, glad you're all enjoying this.  
  
Love and Peace  
  
Nick. 


	8. Chapter 8

Hola people, still not mine  
  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
  
The only sound in the room was that of Jim's gentle snoring and the regular beeping from the machines next to the bed. It was still dark outside and the only lightsource came from beneath the closed door and from the moons which fell through the window landing on the female C'tarl C'tarl. Beneath the light of the twin moons Aisha's eyes fluttered slightly, before slowly opening. She looked at the strange ceiling above her. Try as she might she couldn't remember how she had got here or, where here was. Glancing around it appeared that she was in a hospital room. She was focusing on trying to remember what had happened when Jim released a loud sigh, alerting Aisha to his presence. She looked down at the sleeping hacker and a smile crossed her lips.  
  
The memories slowly began to return to her, the meal at the restaurant, the attack, Jim fighting back, his 'special' technique, the feeling of the missile. She winced at that. Looking down she gazed fondly at the sleeping figure next to her. Over the years Jim had turned into quite a handsome young man, in sleep his face portrayed a far more relaxed and easy going person than he usually apeared when awake. Absent-mindedly she began stroking the side of his face, letting out a soft giggle as the blonde's face twitched slightly. Her thoughts began to wander, she began to remember the battle cry that Jim had used for that final attack. The battle cry that Hayth used for his final attack.  
  
Hayth....she would need to think hard about what to do about that. She didn't think that Jim knew that she was Odana, but now that she knew, she didn't know what she should do. The truth of the matter was that she had began to feel attracted to Hayth. Not to the Avatar that he used, but the person behind the visor. She knew that Hayth was kind, funny, friendly, not out to start fights with others but prepared to finish them. If she had met him in the real world she might have tried something, but as it was she had been happy to keep their relationship as it was, but now.... The other problem she faced was how to tell Jim. Hayth had seemed to be attracted to Odana, if Aisha was any judge that is, but how would he react to this new development?   
  
Her thoughts were interupted by movement beneath her fingers. Looking down she saw that Jim had began to stir. He remained still for a few moments and then looked up at her. Meeting his eyes with her own she smiled and said "Hey...."  
  
Jim's eyes widened in delight.  
  
"Aisha!" he shouted as he leapt up to hold her in a tight embrace, stopping only when he realised that that might cause more harm than good, settling for squeezing her hand tenderly.  
  
"I'm pleased to see you too Jim" she said a small smile playing on her lips, squeezing his hand back.  
  
Jim hurridly raised a hand to his face and quickly brushed away a tear which had been threatening to fall. "I'll go get a docter" he said rushing to the doorway. He turned and shot her a broad grin before walking out into the hallway.  
  
Aisha looked around the room once more and spotted something which had previously been hidden. Next to Jim's chair was a black bag, hanging out of it on one side was an orange Illusia visor. She let her head fall back against the pillow, the smile slipping off her face. This was going to be harder than she thought  
  
********************************************************************  
  
The Docter checked his chart once more.  
  
"Well Ms Clan Clan it appears that you have almost made a full recovery. Remarkable."  
  
Aisha beamed. "Does that mean i can go?" She said excitedly.   
  
"Well, not quite, if its ok with you I'd like to keep you in for one more night, just for observation."  
  
At this Aisha stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. "But i wanna go home..."  
  
"Ms Clan Clan i really must insist. It is not unknown for coma victims to revert back, and if this were to happen within the next 24 hours, without the proper treatment, it could be fatal." Aisha snorted at that. "Even to a C'tarl C'tarl." The docter added.  
  
"Aisha you've got to listen to him." she turned to look at Jim. "You almost died. You should stay here, just in case." This caused her face to show a small amount of fear.  
  
"I, almost died?" she said quietly.  
  
"Yes Ms Clan Clan. When you arrived at the hospital, you were begining to have dificulties breathing." the docter replied.  
  
"Allright, I'll stay" she croaked, her throat feeling like sandpaper at this new information. She looked up at Jim and fixed him with a firm stare. "On one condition. You have got to go back to the ship and get a decent nights rest."  
  
"But Aisha-"  
  
"No buts Jim. One of us is going back to the ship tonight, now is it going to be you or me?"  
  
"I agree with Aisha, Jim." The two blondes and the docter turned to stare at the raven-haired woman standing in the doorway.  
  
"Hey Suzu." Aisha said with a broad grin  
  
"How are you feeling Aisha?"  
  
"Pretty good, but they want me to stay the night here." she replied.  
  
Suzuka turned to Jim. "I'm assuming that you will be staying on the ship tonight?"  
  
With some reluctance, Jim said, "yeah i guess so."  
  
Aisha took his hand and gave it a squeeze. "I'll be fine Jim, you'll see. Now go an' get some rest."  
  
"Ok. I'll see you later." he said as he walked over to the door. "Bye"   
  
Aisha raised her hand and with a smile said "see ya."   
  
The docter followed Jim to the door and said "I shall be by again later Ms Clan Clan". He closed the door begind him leaving the two girls alone in the room.  
  
***********************************************************************************************  
  
The pair sat there for a few minutes in silence  
  
"It was a good decision to send Jim home, Aisha." Suzuka said. Aisha didn't reply.  
  
"I don't think he left your side for more than twenty minutes in the past two weeks." The C'tarl C'tarl remained silent  
  
"It hit him pretty hard." Aisha looked up at this and turned to woman beside her.  
  
"Suzu...I need some.....advice." The ex-assasin raised an eyebrow and nodded for Aisha to continue.  
  
"I don't know if you've heard about this new virtua-game that was released about a year ago called Illusia?" At this Suzuka's eyebrows both shot up in surprise.  
  
"Yes....I believe i have heard of it." Suzuka said carefully.  
  
Aisha carried on regardless. "Well for the past few months I've been playing it online and I met someone." There was a nervousness and fear in the C'tarl C'tarl's voice that Suzuka had never heard before.  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Yeah. He's kind, friendly, brave, honorable, funny, smart. I was really starting to like him."  
  
"Well.....that's certainly not the conventional method of meeting someone, but if it works for you-"  
  
"Suzu. That's not the problem." Aisha interupted.  
  
"What is then?" Aisha was silent for a few seconds as she collected her thoughts.   
  
"One of the special attacks my friend has is one he calls 'Diamond Strike'." Aisha swallowed, this was harder than she had thought it would be. "Its a series of slashes, ending in a powerful thrust."  
  
"Go on."  
  
"When Jim and I were attacked in that restaurant, I expected him to stay back and let me do the fighting. He had other ideas. He found a sword and started to attack one of the other guys. He was doing pretty well. I just thought that it was your lessons paying off." Aisha said with a slight smile which soon disappeared. "It was the way that he finished the guy that is the problem. He used the 'Diamond Strike'. The exact same way that Hayth does."  
  
"Hayth?"  
  
"Yeah that was what I called him before.... It seems obvious now Suzu, all this time, Jim has been Hayth. I don't know what to do." she let her chin fall down to her chest and stared downwards.  
  
"How do you feel about Jim now?"  
  
"I don't know! Before all this I just thought of him as a friend but now..."  
  
"Now?"  
  
"Now, I'm confused. I've never looked at Jim like that before." A small smile crept onto Aisha's lips. . "He's grown up to be quite a prize catch" she said blushing.  
  
Suzuka smiled back at her. "Well it seems like you have allready made your decision. What do you intend to do?"  
  
The smile slipped from Aisha's face. "I dunno. Got any Ideas?"  
  
"I am unsure of how to progress. However i would advise that you tell Jim the truth as soon as possible. This does have the potential to hurt him greatly. Something i feel that neither of us want, correct?"  
  
Aisha nodded "Damn straight." Her face broke out into a broad grin. "Say Suzu, could you do me a favour......"  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Hayth thrust his blade into the dirt and began panting heavily. The beast he just defeated was more of a challenge than he had previously expected.  
  
He had rested for a few hours at the ship, before deciding to venture into Illusia, just in case he could find her....If not he could still work off some frustration. Gene and Mel had been pleased to see him and even more pleased, to hear that Aisha had woken up.   
  
When Suzuka had arrived back at the ship she informed Jim that Aisha was just feeling a little tired and was looking forward to seeing Jim tomorrow morning.  
  
Hayth was more concerned with going over his thoughts than paying attention to his surroundings, which explained how the troll had been able to sneak up on him. He flew foward and smashed into the far wall. The air in his lungs being expelled with a grunt. He span round to look at the monster, his sword lying inbetween the two of them. With a snarl Jim charged forwards, trying to pick up the sword midway. The huge greenskin lashed out with a clawed foot, knocking the sword away from the knight.   
  
Swallowing, Hayth leapt back to dodge the follow through attack. He was about to try again. When a cry, in a strange tongue, caused the troll to disappear from the outside in. As the beast vanished, behind it was a redheaded cleric.  
  
"Hi!" Odana said smiling.  
  
***************************************************************************  
  
They were both in the cottage. After using a healing spell to treat Hayth's wounds she had suggested that they go there to talk.  
  
"I tried looking for you yesterday. Albion said you hadn't been on in a couple of weeks." The knight said.  
  
Odana looked a little embarresed and apologetic. "Yeah I spoke to him earlier on, he told me where to find you. I wasn't able to log on for the past weeks. Sorry."  
  
"Its ok. I'm just glad to see you." He said smiling broadly.  
  
"Me too."  
  
"Truth be told, last night was the first time i logged on in a couple of weeks. A friend of mine was hurt and I kinda had other things on my mind."  
  
"I'm sorry. Are they ok?"  
  
Hayth grinned. "Yeah she woke up this morning, so I'm really glad about that"  
  
"She?"  
  
"Yeah, she's my best friend really, I was really worried about her for a while."  
  
With an Impish grin Odana said "Carefull, you'll be making me jealous."  
  
Hayth looked embarresed and stammered "N-N-No I didn't mean it like that."  
  
She grinned back at him. "I'm just kidding. So she's better now?"  
  
"Yeah, she's coming out of hospital tomorrow."  
  
Odana nodded, as if understanding something.  
  
"I want to meet you." she said suddenly.  
  
"Wh-Wha-What?" Hayth stuttered.  
  
"I said, I want to meet you."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because I like you. I want to get to know you better."  
  
Hayth looked thoughtful for a few moments and slowly said "Ok. Lets do it."  
  
Odana smiled. "Great. Do you think that you'll be visiting Brunir 3 at any time in the near future? I'm stationed there at the moment."  
  
"This might seem strange but we're actually on shore leave there at the moment." Hayth said sheepishly.  
  
"That's great" she said. "Where do you want to meet?"  
  
"Um, I'm not sure, truthfully I don't know the planet that well. Haven't seen that much of it," he admitted bashfully.  
  
"Ah well, how about Casn Park? Relatively easy to find and it's a really nice place."  
  
"Um, ok that would be great. How about tomorrow at 8pm?"  
  
"That would be perfect. How will i recognise you?"  
  
"Hmm. Ok, I'll be carrying a red flower. How about you?"  
  
"Original. I'll be carrying a red book." She said with a giggle  
  
"Heh, we'll match."  
  
"Yeah...."   
  
"We're really gonna do this then." He said, smiling.  
  
"Yeah" she grinned back.  
  
"Well I'll seeya tomorrow then."  
  
Yeah, Bye" With that they both logged off.  
  
****************************************************************  
  
The next morning Jim awoke with the sun and made his way to the hospital, as quickly as possible. The nurses were struggling to keep Aisha from storming out and were highly relieved at Jim's arrival to help her check out.  
  
"So whattaya wanna do today Jim?" The C'tarl C'tarl said. Jim fealt his mouth drop as he stared at her.  
  
"'Do', what do i want to 'do' today? Aisha you just woke up from a coma."  
  
"C'tarl C'tarl have incredible healing powers" she said striding fowards.  
  
"You're amazing." Jim muttered. Aisha replied by shooting him a feral grin.  
  
***************************************************************  
  
They arrived at the ship a few hours later. Aisha had insisted that they do something to celebrate her being up and about once more and had proceeded to drag Jim into an amusement arcade, where they had spent an hour playing the various video games and contests. She had also, then dragged him into a showing of '3 men and a C'tarl C'tarl Baby' which Aisha enjoyed a great deal more than Jim.  
  
Unfortunately once Jim got back there was a mountain of work which needed to be done on the ship which ate up most of the day and he was kept busy until dinner time. He had to rush after dinner to get ready to meet Odana.   
  
Once he had finished getting dressed he took a look at himself in the mirror. He was wearing a pair of black trousers with an untucked red shirt covering his chest, over that was a simple black waist jacket. Satisfied with his appearence, Jim walked through his door and down towards the main exit to the outside of the ship.   
  
Once out in the fresh air he looked up at the stars in the night sky. It truly was a beautiful night. As he walked towards the park Jim's excitment steadily grew until he felt fit to burst. On the way he spotted what he was looking out for. A short lady who looked about sixty was tending to a small flower stall, quietly humming a tune.  
  
"Um excuse me" Jim said.  
  
"Yes Young man?"  
  
"Erm, I was wondering if I could buy a flower please."  
  
"Of course, which would you like?"  
  
"I don't really know, I'm meeting a lady later on and i need a red flower for her."  
  
"Aw that's very sweet. First date?"  
  
"Well yes" Jim admitted, blushing.  
  
"Here how about this one?" She handed him a single red rose.  
  
"Wow, that's nice, how much do i owe you?"  
  
"That one's free for you. Have a nice date m'dear."  
  
"Thanks ma'am, bye."  
  
"Goodbye"  
  
***********************************************************************************  
  
The park was illuminated by a series of ornate street lamps, which led Jim down the small path, winding in amongst the flower beds of the park. Off to one side was a small parkbench with some one sitting there. He couldn't see her face but he could see that there was a red book resting on the bench next to her.   
  
Her light blonde hair cascaded down her back freely and she appeared to be wearing a long beige dress. As he walked towards her it seemed like there was something familiar about her. His footsteps alerted her to his presence and as she stood, she picked up the book and held it close to her chest. She kept her back to him until he was about 3 feet away from her.  
  
Jim cleared his throat and said "Odana?"  
  
As she turned round, Aisha said, "Hello Hayth."  
y  
They both stood there for a minute watching each other. Jim trying to understand what was happening, Aisha trying to gauge his reaction.  
  
"Wh-Wha.... Aisha?"  
  
"Hello Jim"  
  
Neither was sure who moved first but a second later they were in each others arms, kissing as if their lives depended on it, the light of the moon and lamps beaming down on them and the sound of the flowers rustling in the wind surrounded them.  
  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
  
Wow! This one took me a while to write, work problems an all that, sorry. I hope you all liked this, but it is still not the end, one more chapter of Illusia to go.  
  
I actually need your guys help. I'm not sure what to do next. I have a couple of ideas for fresh Jim/Aisha fics and a few ideas for continuing this storyline. So if you guys can tell me what you'd like to see more then i can start working on plot and stuff.  
  
Love and Peace  
  
Nick 


	9. Chapter 9

Not mine  
  
#########################################################  
  
The pair sat on the park bench in silence. Each was staring forward, avoiding the gaze of the other. A couple walked past them, arm in arm, laughing at some private joke. Every so often one of the two blondes would steal a glance at the other. Finally Jim decided to break the silence.  
  
"This still seems like a dream." Aisha reached over and squeezed his hand, turning and smiling tenderly. "Can I ask you something?" Jim said  
  
"Sure."  
  
"You didn't seem surprised that it was me."  
  
"No"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Two words. Diamond Strike" she said with a smile. Jim started blushing at that, causing Aisha to start to giggle. "I couldn't believe it when you said that."  
  
"Which time?"  
  
"Either time." Aisha said causing them both to start to laugh. Jim looked over to her and felt his face break out into a broad grin.  
  
"I still can't believe that its you."  
  
"Well now you know how I felt yesterday morning." Jim smiled at this for a few seconds before his face fell into a frown.  
  
"It was my fault wasn't it?"  
  
"What?" Aisha said with a puzzled expression.  
  
"You getting hurt. It was my fault."  
  
"Why would you say that?"  
  
"It was just after i said it that you got shot." After this Jim stared down at the floor. Aisha looked at him in amazement.  
  
"Jim..." Reaching down she cradled his head in her hands and gently lifted it so that he was looking her in the eyes. "Listen to me. This is not your fault." With that she brought there faces together into a soft kiss. "I'm glad this has happened. Are you?"  
  
Jim smiled "Yeah."  
  
"Good." With that they settled back into each others arms looking up into the night sky.  
  
"So what do we do now?" Jim asked.  
  
"mmm?" Aisha said looking at him.  
  
"Well this is my first real date and I don't really know what to do next." Jim admitted bashfully.  
  
"Heh, me neither." Aisha said with a grin. It was then that a deep growl came from Aisha's midsection.  
  
"I guess picking up some food first would be a good start then," said Jim with a laugh.   
  
***************************************************************************  
  
Twenty minutes later they were sitting back at the park bench, each eating a hot dog with an unopened tub of icecream on the floor between them.   
  
Raising a napkin to his mouth Jim wiped away a little mustard and turned to Aisha who was just starting her second hot dog.  
  
"Can I ask you a question?" He said  
  
"Shoot" Aisha replied, her mouth still full.  
  
"Why did you first start playing Illusia?"  
  
Aisha looked thoughtfull for a few seconds then swallowed her food. "I wanted to try being someone else."  
  
"Sorry?"  
  
"Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my life, its just that sometimes i get tired of allways having to act a certain way. Everyone allways expects me to be noisy, brash and cheerfull. If I don't act that way people think that I'm up to something or that I'm ill. It was nice to be able to be someone else, if only for a few hours." A sad smile crossed her lips. Turning round she asked "What about you?"  
  
"I just wanted to be able to be someone out there who didn't have to allways be the responsible one. Someone who people didn't look at and automaticly think is the kid."  
  
They both sat there for a few moments in silence, their eyes scanning the length of the park, both deep in thought.  
  
"Aisha?"  
  
"hmm?"  
  
"You don't ever need to pretend who you are with me. I like the real you. Whether you're happy or sad, lively or tired, quiet or noisy."  
  
Aisha was silent for a few seconds before quietly saying "Thank you." She gently lifted an arm and wrapped it round the shoulders of her companion. They sat like that for the next hour, no sound coming from the two. It wasn't until she heard a soft snore come from James that she realised he had fallen asleep. Planting a soft kiss on the hacker's forehead she said quietly, "good night Jim."  
  
********************************************************************************  
  
When Jim awoke he found his head resting hi Aisha's lap.  
  
"Morning" she said.  
  
"Morning" he replied sitting up. Reaching up to his face Jim rubbed some of the sleep from his eyes. "What time is it?"  
  
"About half six."  
  
"I slept the whole night?" Jim asked incredulously  
  
"Yeah guess i must be too much woman for you." Aisha said with a laugh.  
  
"Hey."   
  
"I'm just kidding around Jim." Aisha said as she stood up from the bench.  
  
Jim pushed himself up and stood next to her. "So what do you wanna do now?"  
  
"Dunno. Guess we should really head back to the Outlaw Star."  
  
"Yeah You're right." Jim agreed as they began the walk back to the docks.  
  
"So what are we tell the others?" Aisha asked.  
  
"not sure. Suzuka's gonna be interested though."  
  
"Suzuka?" Aisha asked a hint of curiousity creeping into her voice. "Why do you say that?"  
  
"Suzuka was the only one who knew about Illusia. She figured it out when i was using moves and tricks which she hadn't taught me. I've been telling her about the game, stories and about you for the past month or so." Aisha looked shocked by this. The hints of a smile began to show on her face.  
  
"Did she know what you called yourself."  
  
"Yeah of course."  
  
Aisha's face broke out into an amazed smile.  
  
"I can't believe her" she whispered.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
She turned to look at Jim. "Yesterday, after you left, I talked to Suzu about all this, she never said a word that she allready knew all about this." At this Jim began to chuckle. "I never knew that Suzu had a talent for Match making." she finished and shook her head.  
  
******************************************************************  
  
As they aproached the ship they saw Suzuka standing in the door way. A small package held in her hands.  
  
"Good Morning. I trust you had a pleasent night." Suzuka said.  
  
With a grin Aisha walked past her and down towards her room saying, "Suzu, we're gonna have a long talk about the benefits of sharing information later."  
  
Jim stood there staring at the kimono clad woman before him.   
  
"Is there something I can do for you Jim?"  
  
Jim stood there, watching her then said, with a smile, "Thank you Suzuka." He then executed a formal bow in her direction.  
  
Suzuka returned the bow with a smile. "I did very little James, just helped two people find eactheh other." with that she turned and started towards the ship. "Oh i almost forgot Jim, this arrived for you last night." She handed him the parcel and proceeded inside the ship. Ripping the brown paper off his brace broke out into a grin as the sun glinted off the contents. Inside was the broadsword he had used on that night two weeks ago. Inside was a note, thanking the pair for their work and a check for 3000 Wong.  
  
Jim began, cheerfully, whistling a tune as he walked into the ship and locked the door behind him.  
  
*******************************************************************  
  
TO BE CONTINUED!  
  
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Short chapter I know but this chapter was really just rounding off the story of Illusia. I'm glad that i got such a nice response for everyone. Check back in a few days for the first part of the Sequel to Illusia.....still gotta think up a title for it first though.  
  
LOVE AND PEACE!  
  
Nick 


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